Will You Forgive Dark Souls' Developers? Please?

Role-playing game Dark Souls was, for many players, the best game of last year. Yet, like many titles, there were bugs and frame-rate issues. From Software, the game's developer sure sounds unhappy about that.

"Yes, there were technical difficulties," the game's creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki told Edge. "I don't believe that it's OK to have them, but realistically speaking, it was quite a large-scale game — even in terms of budget and expectations. So we're very sorry for the trouble we've caused by our processing errors and bugs from Japan."

There isn't just a bit of Japanese humility in what he's saying — there's a lot. Miyazaki went on to add that there were areas that the development team felt like its technical side could not keep up with the game's scope. While Miyazaki might not forgive the technical issues, players seemed to be far more giving and are eagerly anticipating the next Souls title — something that might not happen.

"We don't even know if we'll have another chance," Miyazaki said. "We have the confidence that we can improve from our mistakes this time and create an even better Dark world, but we don't know if the users will forgive us for the mistakes, so I cannot give an exact answer."

I mostly noticed it when there was no one about. When I was busy being stabbed by tough enemies it seemed fine. I heard the problem was in the rendering of all the floorboards. I suppose that makes sense, as if you make a level in Reach that has too many unsmooth edges the framerate becomes shocking.

I think I would do just about anything to grab hold of the developers legs and hump them appropriately...even distributing the love. The next installment needs to punish more for dying and not let the players off the hook so easily. Yes, it allowed us to experience the entire game in one lifetime that way, but now that we've got the picture...unleash the frustrating suffering and make sure to pad those legs!!

Triple AAA games nailing the brief. Indie games surprising people out of nowhere, and expansions and patches that completely turn a game around. It's been a good year for games - now it's time for you to vote for your favourite.